ECB needs to take account of improved financing conditions - Villeroy

PARIS (Reuters) - The European Central Bank should take account of a recent improvement in financing conditions in discussing the future of its pandemic-related monthly asset purchases, ECB policymaker Francois Villeroy de Galhau said on Monday.

Villeroy, who is also governor of the Bank of France, said there was no urgency to decide on the future of the Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme at the ECB's September meeting because unlike the U.S. Federal Reserve, the ECB could adjust its monthly purchases according to financing conditions.

Speaking on BFM Business radio, Villeroy said that financing conditions in the euro zone had improved since the ECB's last meeting in June.

"Our discussion should take account of this improvement in financing conditions," Villeroy said.

He also said the economies in France and the euro zone should be back to pre-COVID levels in early 2022 or maybe earlier, that there was no risk of durably higher inflation at this stage.

(Refiles to correct spelling of BFM Business in paragraph 3)

(Reporting by Benoit Van Overstraeten and Matthieu Protard; writing by Leigh Thomas, Editing by Toby Chopra and Philippa Fletcher)